Dallas County, Arkansas

Page 737
Dr. John A. WATERS, physician, surgeon and druggist, Fordyce, Ark. In a comprehensive work of this kind, dealing with industrial pursuits, sciences, arts and professions, it is only fit and right that that profession on which in some period or other of our lives the medical profession we are all more or less dependent, should be noticed, and much more so, when, in connection with it, is carried on the drug trade. Dr. WATERS was born in Alabama in 1862, and his parents, Alfred M. and Fannie B. (SEYMORE) WATERS, were natives of Alabama and North Carolina, respectively, the former born in 1833 and the latter in 1837. They (the parents) were married in what is now Cleveland County, Ark., and there passed the closing scenes of their life, the father dying in 1879 and the mother in 1878. He was a farmer by occupation, and was all through the Civil War, as a private in the Confederate army. The grandfather, John WATERS, was born in Georgia, was a Revolutionary soldier, followed farming for a livelihood, and died in Alabama. He was of Irish descent. The maternal grandfather, John SEYMOUR, was a native of North Carolina and an early settler of what is now called Cleveland County, Ark., where his death occurred before the late war. He was also a farmer by pursuit and a Revolutionary soldier. Dr. John A. WATERS, the second of seven children, five now living, was reared principally on the farm, and received a good education, mostly at the State University at Fayetteville, Ark. He graduated from the Missouri Medical College at St. Louis, in 1885, and at once began practicing at Fordyce, where he has since continued, and where, in connection with his practice, he established a drug store in 1887. He is he owner of considerable property in Fordyce, all the result of his own energy and perseverance. He was married in 1886 to Miss Cornelia BRYANT, a daughter of William and Sarah BRYANT, formerly of Alabama, but now of Dallas County. Mrs. WATERS was born in Cleveland County, Ark., and by her marriage became of the mother of one daughter. Mr. WATERS is a Democrat in politics, and his first presidential vote was for Grover Cleveland in 1884. He is a member of the Masonic fraternity at Fordyce.